The InstantAtlas blog is for information related to data presentation and visualization, local information systems, and the analysis of public health data and community indicators using InstantAtlas Software and Solutions

The recent release of Adobe’s Flash Player version 11.4 included a security change that affects all InstantAtlas Flash reports that access files from another domain. This means that reports that include a layer coming from a Web Map Service (WMS) or ArcGIS Server/Online Service will not display the layer in the map and possibly not load at all when the report is saved on a web server.

Technical explanation
It is now mandatory that the server hosting the WMS or ArcGIS Server/Online Service provides information about who is allowed to access the service. This information needs to be provided in a cross-domain policy file called crossdomain.xml. In the past, InstantAtlas reports have worked without checking if such a file exists. However, with the latest Flash Player release, all online reports published with InstantAtlas Flash templates version 6.5.2 or earlier will fail to show a WMS or ArcGIS Server/Online layer or the report may have stopped working entirely, even if this cross-domain policy file exists. To fix this issue we have added some code to the latest 6.6.0 Flash templates to check that the external server provides a cross-domain policy file.

What does this mean for your InstantAtlas reports?
To support Flash Player version 11.4 you need to ensure that:
• the Web Map or ArcGIS Service you would like to use has a cross-domain policy file and
• your report is published with version 6.6.0 of the InstantAtlas Flash templates.

If you are using an ESRI ArcGIS Online Service as your background layer
The ArcGIS Online Services from ESRI have a cross-domain policy file which allows all domains to access the server. So if you are using one of the ESRI ArcGIS Online Services in your reports you simply need to republish your report using one of the latest 6.6.0 Flash templates.

If you are using a WMS or ArcGIS Server Service as your background layer
Republish your report using one of the latest 6.6.0 Flash templates. If the service you are using provides a cross-domain policy file with the correct permissions this will fix the issue. If it doesn’t, please contact the administrator of the WMS or ArcGIS Server Service to add or amend this file. It needs to be called crossdomain.xml and in most cases will be saved in the root of the server. An example of the content of a cross-domain policy file that grants access to all other domains can be seen below:

We in the InstantAtlas Support Team take pride in responding quickly to the queries that land in our inbox. However, the variable nature of our case load means that it may not be possible for us to respond immediately. This is true especially for customers in a different time zone to our support team (we operate in GMT).

To minimise interruptions to your work with InstantAtlas we have been continually developing and improving our InstantAtlas Knowledge Base. This is a database of solutions that answers over 200 of the most frequently asked questions about InstantAtlas Desktop and Server.

The InstantAtlas Knowledge Base is located within ‘My InstantAtlas’, the customer-restricted area of our website and it is really easy to use. You can simply type in a search word or phrase which describes your question or problem, hit the search button and you will see a list of all solutions which match your search. You can also browse through the solutions by drilling down into categories and subcategories to narrow down the results. You can sort solutions by their popularity and rate them if you find them effective. Watch a short video on how to use the InstantAtlas Knowledge Base here.

In the unlikely event that you can’t find an answer to your query in the Knowledge Base, you still have the option to email or phone our support team. If the answer to your query can be helpful to other customers we will add a new solution to the Knowledge Base.